Connie and Christy are good friends, whenever I bring Red, Connie always urges me to visit Christie next door. Christie is just back from four days in the hospital, she is feeling better. Connie and Christy can’t get their wheelchairs down to the main floor, so they watch from the landing, all smiles and connection.

I love Connie’s face, it shows her great character. She is looking for baby wool so she can make head caps for newborn babies at the Albany Medical Center. If you have any bab

y wool, you can send it to her care of the Mansion, 11 S Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Christie used to own miniature donkeys, which she loved very much.

At the Mansion, life flows like a river through the lives of the residents. People come and go, some get sick, some struggle, some die. Everyone is nearing the edge of life. Almost everyone is there because they can no longer take care of themselves for one reason or another. These are very real people, they are all of us, quite literally.

Christie has suffered a great deal this year, she always has a wide and warm smile, she never complains

I am especially drawn to the Mansion because it is a Medicaid facility, people who go there do not have a lot of money, and the staff works as much out of loyalty and love as for money, there just is not a lot of money. America keeps the elderly alive by any means and at all costs, but  nobody really wants to pay for the care these people deserve.

The staff is heroic in it’s attentiveness and affection, there is a wonderful feeling about the place, given all the stress and struggle bubbling just below the service. Most people are happy there, I’m not sure anyone ever wanted to be there.

The good and loving spirits of the residents and staff inspire me every time I go there, they are a gift to me. Connie asked several times to be remembered to Maria, they have become quite connected to one another. Maria said she will write to Connie as soon as she can after she gets to Kolkata.